5 Things I Learned from Dave Asprey
The 'Father of Biohacking' has a new book that promises to get you the mind and body you want with minimal effort. Is it legit?
Dave Asprey plans to live until he’s 180.
The controversial, multimillionaire founder of Bulletproof Coffee has spent the past 15 years hacking his biology to figure out ways humans can optimize their performance and live better.
It’s a much sought-after goal — earning him great success as an author, entrepreneur, and lifestyle guru. In addition to his coffee, he has a supplement brand and an AI-powered line of gyms called Upgrade Labs.
Now Dave has a new book called Smarter Not Harder: The Biohacker’s Guide to Getting the Body and Mind You Want. He argues that the key to getting said body and mind you want is embracing your inner laziness while increasing your energy. Then he offers a series of relatively simple biohacks to get there.
The promise of achieving more results with less effort has been a staple of salesmen since the Stone Age. I’ll admit I was a bit skeptical about publishing this episode. Dave has no medical degrees or formal nutritional training. He has positioned himself as a human guinea pig who tries a lot of crazy things so that you don’t have to (he holds the record for the most stem cell injections that have ever been done on one person, for example).
Dave has some critics in the mainstream medical community, but that is also what makes him appealing. He bucks the traditions and norms that a large portion of society is skeptical of. He also knows his stuff, speaking with the self-possessed confidence of a man who has spent countless years donating his body to science.
Here are a few things I learned in our interview on the Write About Now Podcast.
1. He used to be 300 pounds
“I was a 300-pound computer hacker,” he says. “Before I was 30, they said I had a high risk of stroke and heart attack. I had chronic fatigue syndrome and crippling brain fog.”
Despite being “profoundly unhealthy,” he went to the gym 90 minutes a day, six days a week for 18 months—and didn’t lose a pound.
“I was on a low-fat, low-calorie diet, and I still had a 46-inch waist. I was strong, but I was still fat. And I just thought it must be a moral failing. Maybe I'm eating too much lettuce 'cause that's all that's left.”
“I just realized I've gotta quit doing what's supposed to work because it wasn't a lack of effort. It wasn't a moral thing. Look, I can control systems. You measure what you do to them, and you measure what they do in response, and then you keep manipulating it. And that's what led me to be my own Guinea pig.”
2. He believes our bodies are operating under a lazy MeatOS system
Like a computer, the operating system in your body does all sorts of things that are undetectable to you. It works in the background while you go about your life. This operating system makes us lazy, opting for lying on the couch rather than getting on the Peloton for 45 minutes.
“Your body is lazy, and it will do anything possible to avoid work unless the work is worth it,” he writes in his book. “No cell wants to use more energy or resources than the absolute minimum necessary.”
3. Willpower is not the problem
The problem isn’t your lack of discipline, willpower, or moral fiber. It’s that you’re constantly battling a body that’s basically a slacker living in your garage.
“Forcing yourself to want to do unnatural things requires massive amounts of self-deception. It's just electrically expensive,” Dave says.
The solution? Work smarter, not harder. Dave says he only exercises 15 minutes weekly and has 8 percent body fat. He told me it would make more sense for me to sprint fast in the park for a few minutes and then lie on a bench, then do a 45-minute high-intensity spin ride.
I told him I might get arrested if I did this in LA.
4. Kale and nuts are bad
Dave firmly believes in eating foods that are high in healthy fats, moderate in protein, and low in carbohydrates. In our interview, he criticizes such healthy food staples as kale, nuts, oatmeal, and brown rice.
Dave on kale: “Kale and raw spinach contribute to gout, kidney stones, and joint inflammation.”
Dave on whole grains: “What you're getting with whole grains, and especially oatmeal and nuts and seeds, is something called phytic acid that most of us haven't heard of. This is a plant compound that sucks minerals from your bones. It pulls away that zinc. We've all heard over the last three years that zinc actually does work to make you less likely to go to the hospital for all causes. It also raises testosterone.”
5. There are only two supplements you need to take.
The scientific verdict on supplements seems to be they’re great if you have a deficiency or aren’t getting enough minerals through your diet, but otherwise, all they do is make your pee yellow.
I take a multivitamin and drink a glass of Athletic Greens daily, but I have no idea if they’re doing anything.
Dave says there are only “two supplements that you really, really need.”
Then he goes on to tell me about five supplements.
The first is a multimineral supplement. “It should be at least three pills per day to fit everything that you need,” he says. “If you just do that, you'll be ahead of almost everyone else because now all the different systems in your body have the raw materials actually to do what they’re supposed to do.”
The second is Vitamins D-E-A
-K
“These are fat-soluble vitamins that come from animals, not plants,” Dave explains. “And when you get those, those tell the minerals where to go in the body and stay there.”
There is plenty more advice in the 55-minute interview.
If you’d like to watch Dave and me in action, subscribe to my new YouTube Channel.
Thanks for tuning in. Leave your thoughts on Dave’s advice in the comments.
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